0566 Houston, Anacortes, and out of here......

 21^st July – 11^th Aug 2016

But not before yet another Twist in the Tale !

So having had to settle for the more expensive option of shipping the car out of Seattle due to the unwillingness of the Los Angeles CBP to check for the correct shipping requirements for a tourist vehicle, I set off to Houston Texas to spend 10 days with my daughter Sarah, her husband Benn, and their daughter Olivia who was celebrating her second birthday on the 22^nd July.  Janet had also flown over from Australia to join in the celebration, and I was looking forward to a breather now that all this drama with the shipping was sorted out.  But now I had another issue to deal with – My 90 day ESTA visa waiver allowance for the USA was running out !!!

0565 Anacortes - packing and cleaning

15^th – 21^st July 2016

Just when you think you have reached the end………

I had a week in Anacortes before heading to Houston, and my primary jobs were to clean and pack the car ready for shipment back to Australia, and to finalise the shipping.  No big deal……..right ?

Wrong !   

But if you have to wait around anywhere, my sister's house in Anacortes in not a bad choice. There is Washington Park just a 5 minute walk down the road, with views out over the San Juan Islands as you walk around a beautiful forrested two mile circuit.  Or you can cycle round it if you have enough energy and leg power to get up the hills !  In addition there is so much wildlife around here you feel as though you are truly out in the wilds.  A beautiful spot on this earth.  

0564 Cascades Nat Park to Anacortes, Washington

14^th July 2016

My last mountain pass as I finish my 2 ¼ year adventure.

No one else came to my small campsite in the forest last night, so I had a very quiet last sleep, and slept like a log. Before opening the door this morning I checked to see if any interesting wildlife was there (like bears, about which there were lots of signs) but no luck.  Nothing.  Made my cup of tea, had my cereal, cleaned my teeth and myself, and I was on the road before 8 am.  It was to be an easy drive today, through the Cascade National Park and through to my sister’s place in Anacortes, in the San Juan Islands.  I had driven this almost identical road on the last day of my 2012 trip in the Lotus, but that time it had been raining and overcast, and while it had been a magical drive, I had missed a lot of the sights.  Today was a clear blue sky right from the start, so I was looking forward to seeing what I had missed last time.

0563 Lac Le Jeune Canada to Cascade NP USA

13^th July 2016

A cruise down the scenic Okanagan Valley, and my last border crossing !

I was up at dawn as I usually seem to be recently, although I had slept the whole way through – I was exhausted after all the walking yesterday at the waterfalls in Wells Gray Provincial Park – Not so much the distance as the steep down hill and uphill scrambles which seem to be getting harder and harder for me as days pass !  But I wasn’t too stiff this morning, and headed out down the road on the closing section of my 2 1/4 year adventure. 

0562 Vavenby to Lac Le Jeune PP

12^th July 2016

Lots of waterfalls !

During last night and this morning, Ed and Sarah strongly recommended I go to Wells Gray Provincial Park which was only just down the road from them in Vavenby.  I had never even heard of it before, but then there are lots of places I know nothing about !  After breakfast and a few bits and pieces, we took a couple of photos to make sure we remembered which car I had come in this time (last time I was here l was in the Lotus), and then I headed off down the road.  They assured me that several of the waterfalls and sights were within just a couple of minutes walk from the car parks, so I planned a quick visit before heading on south.

0561 Blind Bay to Vavenby

11^th July 2016

Horses, rain, and good company.

I am being spoilt catching up with good friends at the moment – I have known Sarah since college days in England and together with he husband Ed, they have lived here in the Vavenby region for a long time.  Janet and I originally came here in about 1978 – Damien was about 1 ½ and Nick was still to make an appearance !  We have always kept in touch over the years, and I came here in the Lotus in 2012 on my way north, so it was good to be able to make it back to this lovely part of the world yet again, and to have a chance to catch up just a little.

0560 N Thompson PP to Blind Bay

10^th July 2016

Ospreys, a waterfall, and catching up with 2 good friends.

Ed and Sarah Shook were busy today to I decided to head on past their property and on down to Salmon Arm.  This meant that I would end up doing this stretch of road 3 times, but it is not only a very easy road, but is also very scenic, driving down beside the North Thompson River most of the way.  After Kamloops I turned east in towards the extensive and very scenic arms of Shuswap Lake that stretch for miles, and provide endless opportunities for boating, fishing, camping and everything else that goes with big lakes like this.

0559 Mt Robson to N Thompson River Provincial Park

9^th July 2016

Glaciers, and plenty of bears !

After a chat with Hildegard and Franz, we said our farewells as they head north to Alaska and I go west to Seattle – And then met 5 minutes later down at the dump station where they were doing one thing while I was filling up my water tank with drinking water !  I realized I didn’t have a photo of them yet, so took one at the dump station !   They could be coming out to Australia next year, so that might be the next place I see them !  I then went up to the Information Centre to get some wifi so I could book flights to Houston in 2 weeks time for grand daughter Olivia’s 2^nd birthday, sitting outside and admiring Mt Robson while I worked.  Very pleasant morning.

0558 Banff to Jasper to Mt Robson

7th & 8^th July 2016

Mountains, glaciers, and ice blue rivers

I was still not sure what to do about the car when I woke up this morning – I just didn’t feel that I had all the facts that would enable me to make not just a logical decision, but also the right decision.  I had spent quite a lot of money getting the problems analyzed, but still had no finite answer either as to what the exact problem was, or whether I could continue with the car as it was.  However I decided to go back down the road about 25 kms to Canmore to get some kind of lubricant I had been told might help me.   I had to try something, and a giving the car a bit of a run might help indicate if it would run OK or not.

0557 Still in Banff

6^th July 2016

More work on Troopie, and some great bike rides.

Well, I left you in a coffee shop this morning while Banff Diesel worked on Troopie.  I was hoping for a 100% cure, but have to be satisfied now with about an 80% cure.  But the day was excellent for many other reasons.

After I had finished my coffee and the rain had cleared away, I set off on my bike to find a couple of trails that were well marked on the local map. First, as it was closest to town, was Fenland Trail, just a 2.1 km trail through a wooded area along the side of the Bow River. I passed an area where the Banff Canoe Club hire out canoes for people to paddle up the river (you can’t go down the river – There is a waterfall !), and immediately passed that spot, I saw a movement in the bushes………….It was a big elk with a full rack of antlers, still covered in their velvet !

0556 Calgary to Banff - Problems !!

4-6^th July 2016

Held up by Troopie problems !

Well, Wednesday morning sees Troopie in a garage for the second day, and me sitting in yet another coffee bar, and they are playing ABBA’s Super Trooper on the radio – I hope they are right !!

I left Calgary on Monday morning and planned on just passing through Banff (as I have been here a couple of times before), and Troopie was runnung fine, but just short of Banff, in Canmore, the engine warning light came on so I turned off into the town to investigate.  The light has come on previously due to a dirty fuel filter, but that was easily fixed, but seeing that I had only changed the filter recently, I was a little perplexed.  Time to dig deeper.

0555 Glacier NP to Calgary Alberta

3^rd July 2016

More mountains, and back to Canada

There are several roads into Glacier National Park. One is the one through Polebridge which is much smaller and dirt road. The main one is the “going-to-the-Sun” road which cuts right through the mddle of the park from west to east. And then there are a couple of other smaller entrances, Two Medicine down to the south, and Many Glacier, just slightly north of my campsite last night.  Since I was here, and in no particular hurry, I decided to go into Many Glacier since I already had my Park Pass so it wasn’t going to cost me any extra. And what a pleasant way to start the day – Definitely a Black Wine Gum start, with totally different mountains despite only being about 10 or 15 kms north of the road I was on yesterday.

0554 Glacier National Park

2^nd July 2016

“Going-to-the-Sun” Road.  WOW !!

My alarm went off at 5 am, and after lying there for a few minutes trying to decide whether this early start was a good idea or not, I peered out the window to check and make sure there were no bears sitting outside waiting for their breakfast, and since it was all clear, I got up and had my breakfast and packed up.  By 5.45 am I was heading out of the campsite and down the dirt road back to Glacier Park entrance – And this time since I was the only car the only dust was mine, and I wasn’t eating it !

0553 Polson to Glacier National Park

1^st July 2016

It all starts to get a bit busy !

I made the most of my expensive (but very nice) campsite at Polson – used their bbq, enjoyed their showers, did my laundry, and topped off my water tank in the car. By the time I left I could stay “off the beaten path” for 3 or 4 days, if I had to.  I knew it was going to be busy over the next few days, so I made sure I was in the best position to survive it !  Leaving Polson, I also topped off with fuel, and then headed north up the east side of Flathead Lake.

0552 Sheridan to Polson

30^th June 2016

I go in search of the Sheriff, and find a Lake !

The heavy rain had obviously stopped  quite soon after I went to sleep, so although everything was wet, the ground wasn’t going to be a problem for getting the car back up to the road – Nor had the river risen and burst its banks during the night !  So I got sorted and packed up, and headed out.  Not 100 yards up the road I spied some other campers, and as they waved, I drove up and had a chat.  Colin, a Chilean guy called Enzo, I think, and a girl whose name I didn’t catch.  As usual, they wanted to know all about the trip, and we had a fun time for about half an hour before I eventually set off back down the dirt road, out of the hills and back down to the main road at Sheridan.

0551 Yellowstone Nat Park

29^th June 2016

Close encounters with lots of bison !

I had heard from a number of people that the crowds in the park were making it quite difficult to get around or even to park in a lot of places.  Additionally all the camp sites in the park are fully booked out, so I decided to try to see what I wanted to see in one day, starting early and leaving late.  As a result I woke up in my State Forest campsite just outside the northern entrance of the park at 5 am, and was on the road before 6 am.  It was 1 deg C - No wonder I had been a bit chilly during the night !!  The sun was just coming up, and after a few pics of Cooke City (the furthest east I had got in Elsie in 2012 because of snow blocking the road), I had only just entered the Park and there was a big old bull bison wandering along the road in front of me.  Just him and me – Everyone else was still asleep !

0550 Driving the Bear Tooth Pass - Twice !

28^th June 2016

How much fun can a man have by 10 am ?

I woke up at about 6 am having slept like a log out here in the wilds of the Bear Tooth Pass.  We were actually just back from the summit, at Little Bear Lake, but we were close to 10,000 ft asl, so it had been quite chilly last night – and still was as I got up to make tea this morning.  Before 8 am, Steve was up and ready, his dog Zoe was obviously ready to go, and we headed out of the camping area between the trees and down to the “main” road.  As soon as we hit the road, the WOW’s started ! 

0549 Buffalo to the Bear Tooth Pass

27^th June 2016

Across the plains of Wyoming to the exciting Bear Tooth Pass

I took my time packing up this morning, and also took the opportunity to refill my propane bottle, although I don’t think the guy did a very good job as it still seems very light – Only time will tell. The plan today was to drive across Wyoming, much of which I had seen on previous visits, partly because my ex employer has a big bentonite mill out here, and I have visited it aon a number of occasions, including on my Elise trip in 2012.  And last night I had finally realized that my rear tyres were not going to last as long as I had hoped, with one of them showing severe wear on the inside edge, to the point where I was somewhat concerned about how long it would last – I needed to look for tyres.

0548 Custer SP to Buffalo Wyoming

26^th June 2016

Wide open plains and lots of wildlife !

Bit of a black wine gum day today – Had to cover a lot of country that made the Nullarbor look exciting, but there was so much wildlife out there that I actually had a really great day, stopping and starting and doing U turns to check things out all the time !  And when you start the day off with a little prairie dog waving at you, how can the day be bad ?

0547 Badlands NP to Custer SP

25^th June 2016

The amazing Badlands, prairie dogs and buffalo

I had gone for a walk just before sunset last night and saw some amazing colours on the cliffs around the camp site that in the day time are kind of bleached out.  Some wonderful colours out here if you can catch them just right.  The next morning I backtracked the 5 or 6 miles to the beginning of the Park because last night I had been keen to find a camp site, especially in the heat, and had not stopped.  I find that now it is almost summer time here, and almost all America is on vacation, if you can stop by 3 pm or so you can often get a campsite – The hoards all seem to pull in at about 5-6 pm and if you can beat them, you are usually ok.

0546 Indianapolis across to the Badlands of S Dakota

22^nd, 23^rd, and 24^th June 2016

It’s a long way across this country !!

Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota.  And until I arrived in the Badlands National Park this evening, basically nothing to see on the way – At least, not that was af much interest to me.  When you consider that Indianapolis is about 1/3^rd of the way across the country from Newfoundland, and The Badlands are about 2/3rds of the way across, I have just spent 3 full days crossing 1/3^rd of the country.  And I was not on twisty roads, but on straight (and boring) freeways !  It’s a long way across this country, even by Australian standards !

0545 Indianapolis Indiana

21^st June 2016

A day at the Brickyard

While I am not a big fan of Indy cars, the Indianapolis 500 is as much of a global motor racing icon as Brooklands, Bathurst, or the Nurburgring, and as such deserves ones attention. More particularly, Colin Chapman and Jim Clark came here in 1964 in a Lotus 34, the first rear engined car ever to race at Indianapolis, and won pole position, and very nearly the race (were it not for tyre failure).  They returned in 1965 and won the race, and since then, no front engine car has ever won the Indianapolis 500.   Its amazing where Lotus pops up, and wherever it does, it seems to have been a “first”.  I set off to “The Brickyard” (as it is known) really looking forward to my day.

0544 Allegheny NF to Indianapolis

20^th June 2016

A boring day on the freeway all day – But lots of miles !

There really is no other way to get miles under your belt in this part of the world except on the freeway.   I am not even going to pretend that it was fun, but it did achieve its purpose, which was to get me to Indianapolis.  If you look at a map, there really is no other way to get through this part of the world, mainly because there are so many big cities around here – Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, Pittsburgh – You either take the freeways that link the cities or you are doomed to wander on the byways for ever, a bit like that Kingston Trio song

about the man who rode for ever on the subway – “The man who never returned “ !!  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do the freeway – I did, and I have virtually no photos either, so today is a “day off” blog wise !  I did have some kind of truck fire ahead of me on the freeway this afternoon, but was too far back to see much, so even that wasn’t very exciting !  But at least I am now in Indianapolis, and looking forward to not only going to see the Speedway / Brickworks Museum, but also with catching up with good friends from Houston Ron and Caroline Bolen,  who I have just found out will also be in Indianapolis for the next couple of days.  Should be a fun day or two.  

Other pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6299208315860845889?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbn3MuOzvvosgE

0543 Back to the Canadian Niagara Falls, and to the Allegheny Nat Forest

19^th June 2016

I catch up with my fellow MG Wanderers from Queensland – Again !

I slept SO soundly last night that when I finally woke up, it took me 5 or 10 minutes to work out where I was, get my eyes open, and start the day !  I had been exhausted last night and the Portuguese digestivo before bed had pretty much finished me off !  But after a quick breakfast with Dave, checking on some of the photos on his big TV screen, and topping off my water tank with some good Canadian water, I set off back to Niagara.

0542 Up to Ontario and Lake Huron

18^th June 2016

A day back in a Lotus Elise !

I left the camp site at about 8.30 am and headed over the bridge into Canada – No delays at all, and after a cursory check of the car, I was through the border and away.  Dave lives in Mississauga, a sizeable city just south of Toronto, and there was no point in trying to follow a scenic route – this is a busy part of the world – so I stayed on the freeway, doing the posted 100 kmh while EVERY single car, truck, and motorcycle passed me doing 120 – 130 kmh !  I found out later from Dave that the cops won’t stop you if you are “only” doing 20 – 30 kmh over the speed limit !!   Heaven forbid any of these guys ever come to Australia, or even more so, Perth, because they will get a real surprise when they are stopped for doing 2 or 3 kmh over the limit !

0541 A day at the USA Niagara Falls

17^th June 2016

Lots of water !

I drove into the Gorge Discovery Centre and parked there since it was the closest free parking.  There is a shuttle bus tat runs all day around the whole complex, so I bought my $3 ticket for that, but then decided that it would be more interesting to kind of “creep up” on the Falls !  On the US side you can see nothing from a distance except a lot of spray in the air, so I thought I would just let the view “develop” as I walked along a cliff top path.